CPTnews
January 25, 2000
HEBRON: PLANTING IS FORBIDDEN: NO TREES ALLOWED
January 24, 2000
By Art Gish

On Friday, January 21, five members of the team celebrated the Jewish
festival of Trees with over 150 Israeli peace activists in the Palestinian
village of Tiwane. This village is about 10 miles south of Hebron, very
close to the Israeli settlement of Ma'on. We went there to plant 100 olive
trees which Israeli activists from B'tselem, Gush Shalom, Bat Shalom, and
Rabbis for Human Rights were bringing to the village as an act of peace
and solidarity.

Last year settlers from Ma'on started a small satellite settlement on land
owned by the Palestinian farmers in the area. In November, in a highly
publicized event, the Israeli government removed the Ma'on settlers from
this land. The settlers protested, and argued that if they were not
allowed on the Palestinians' land, then neither should the
Palestinian owners be allowed on the land.

The Israeli government apparently agreed, and on November l6, l999,
removed 20 Palestinian families (300 people) from homes in the caves on
their land. The land taken from these villagers is part of a huge area of
thousands of acres declared a closed military zone by the new Barak
government.

An activist from the Israeli human rights group, B'tselem, said, "We want
to send a message to the Israeli government that the injustice being done
here is not the way to make peace."

However, we never did plant any trees. Israeli soldiers stopped the three
buses of Israelis from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. After an hour of
negotiations, the activists were allowed to proceed to the village, but
they were forbidden from taking any trees with them. Military personnel
said that planting trees might be a provocation; to whom they didn't say.

When the buses finally arrived at the village, about 200 people gathered
to see these strange looking outsiders who were entering their small
village. The villagers, subsistence farmers and shepherds, greeted us
warmly. They used to graze their herds on the rocky mountains
in the area, and kept their sheep in caves during the winter nights. Now
they keep their sheep in outside pens, with no protection and no food
except for what they buy. Three homes in the village were demolished
some years ago. Two years ago settlers burned much of their wheat crop.

After speeches by Israelis and Palestinians, we were all invited into
homes in the village for tea, bread, and sheep yogurt. These stone huts
are the simplest homes I have ever been in, but the hospitality was warm
and gracious. Although the army stopped 100 dangerous and provocative olive
trees from entering the village, we planted a seed in Tiwane. Jews,
Muslims, and Christians broke bread together in hopes for a just peace. We
eagerly await the harvest.